DURHAM (March 24, 2011) – A new analysis of the latest data reported by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency under the controversial Secure Communities program demonstrates persisting problems with ICE’s claim that the program’s focus is on high-level dangerous criminals.

More than 40 percent of people deported from Durham County, Gaston County and Mecklenburg County have not been convicted of any crime, the analysis shows, making them among the highest counties in the country in terms of percentage of non-criminal deportees.

The ICE agency began issuing quarterly reports as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Center for Constitutional Rights and the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law.

Those advocates released a new analysis today of the latest data that contradicts the agency’s claim that the program pursues those convicted of dangerous crimes and prevents opportunities for racial profiling on the part of local law enforcement.

“Nationally, 1 in 4 people deported under S-Comm haven’t been convicted of any crime. That ratio jumps to over 40 percent in Durham, Gaston, and in multiple examples across the country,” said Bridget Kessler of Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. “Those numbers raise questions about how S-Comm may allow local police to cover up profiling and circumvent due process.”

Wake County was slightly below 40 percent, at 38.51 percent, but also included the highest total number of deportations in North Carolina. Wake has deported 1,218 people since entering the controversial S-Comm program.

"It is disappointing, but not surprising, to see North Carolina counties among the worst examples nationally when it comes to deporting people without serious criminal convictions,” said Dani Martinez-Moore of the NC Justice Center. “Now that S-Comm is active in all 100 counties as of last week, we are concerned that our existing problems with racial profiling by law enforcement officials in our state will worsen."

When questioned during a recent House Appropriations Committee Hearing on March 11th, Director of ICE John Morton admitted, “we do in fact remove non-criminals through Secure Communities.”

*List is filtered for jurisdictions with statistically significant data set (i.e. sites with too few numbers to draw meaningful conclusion omitted). Full list is available at http://ndlon.org/pdf/scommfeb/